The President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has said that the bank remains unaffected by the financial crisis that has devastated many of the world's major banks. Speaking at a press conference in the US on Tuesday, IDB President Ahmad Muhammad Ali said that amidst the global financial market crisis, the IDB was fairly safe. However, as a precautionary measure to prepare thoroughly for any eventuality, the IDB has invited all the major Islamic banks to IDB headquarters in Jeddah, for a meeting on Oct. 25 “Because the IDB functions in compliance with Islamic Shariah law, it does not work with debts, and has avoided the credit crisis,” he said. On the sidelines of the annual International Monetary Fund and the World Bank meetings, Ali outlined three new initiatives for the IDB this year: the Jeddah Declaration, with the allocation of $1.5 billion to address the food crisis in impoverished countries; the assignment of $4 billion over a period of five years to the 27 IDB member countries in Africa, and lastly, an IDB micro finance and vocational training program for member countries. The IDB remains confident the crisis will not affect the implementation of these three projects, Ali said. The Islamic Development Bank was created in 1973 and has 56 member countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.
